Crippled

By Paul Power

***2021 GOVERNOR GENERAL'S LITERARY AWARD FINALIST, DRAMA CATEGORY***

Crippled is a story about love, death, life and redemption. You will laugh, you will cry and you will walk away with a new perspective about life and what matters.

Paul Power’s play, Crippled, has garnered awards and glowing reviews for his portrayal of his experiences as a person living with a disability. Now in a published form, his story of challenge, loss, and redemption presents universal themes and emotions told through a voice that is not often heard in the mainstream. Though dark and mournful, there is a thread of hope in the way the characters share their lives and memories, underlining both differences and similarities in experience. In highlighting his own personal turmoil, Power evokes empathy and introspection in his audience. From childhood conflicts to overwhelming adult loss and grief, from despair to hope, Crippled presents the commonality of our inner struggles with personal demons, framed against our exterior struggles with the perceptions of others.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Breakwater Books
• Release date: Aug 1, 2021
• ISBN: 9781550818949

Paul Power

Paul David Power's work includes roles in over 30 stage plays across the country as well as directing and producing. His was President of the Liffey Players Drama Society in Calgary AB for three years, Artistic Director for Hubcity Theatre in Moncton NB for five years and Artistic Associate for the Shakespeare by the Sea Festival in St. John's NL for three years.  Paul identifies as a disabled artist. He owns Power Productions, a professional theatre company dedicated to the development of works and artists with a focus on the disabled, Deaf and MAD Arts domain. He lives in St. John’s, Newfoundland.

Book preview

INTRODUCTION

Grief is at once a barrier and a beacon. It prevents us from moving forward, becoming the only thing we can see in its overwhelming power. At the same time, it is a light in the tunnel, pulling us forward in the elusive search for our lost one: that perfect moment that proved they were here and alive; our need to see them again in the most simple and mundane of moments; those moments that ring with their individuality and their connection to us, all-encompassing and yet tiny and specific.

Sitting in the LSPU Hall the night that I first heard an early reading of Crippled, I was thunderstruck by the grief I felt for Paul and his loss and how it mirrored my own journey. I was compelled to offer, almost beg, to work on this show with him because somehow, he captured the heart of the grief I had experienced, and he had put into words what I, and so many others, could not. I wanted to honour that and be there for him. In a way it was kind of selfish, in the way that grief is both selfish and self-less; it is about us and about them.

Navigating that grief and trauma with love and joy underpinned every part of the rehearsal process. We had a very loose structure that had us moving through each moment of the play in detail, yet at a pace that kept Paul’s heart and mind at the forefront. As we went through this—day after day, month after month, year after year, on page and on stage, with each other and in front of others—respect for Paul was always at the forefront.

And, as painful as moments of this play are, it is the absolute magic of the love and joy that Paul has captured that has kept me following along. Somehow, in the very uniqueness of Paul and Jonathan’s life and story, there is something that speaks to me and resonates so deeply that I just can’t get enough of it. Based on the reactions of audiences everywhere, this play really does heal with joy.

I am so glad that Paul let me join his journey. May you enter this story with curiosity, and bravery, like Paul, and may it bring you the love and joy that we have all experienced in his capable hands.

Danielle Irvine

May 2021

CRIPPLED

Crippled was first produced by Power Productions at The Resource Centre for the Arts (LSPU Hall) in St. John’s, NL in February 2018, with the following artistic team:

CAST:

Directed by Danielle Irvine

Lighting Design and Video Production by Robert Gauthier

Sound Design by George Robertson

Set Design by Kirsti Mikoda, Danielle Irvine

Stage Management by Kirsti Mikoda

Assistant Stage Management by Julie Brocklehurst, Janet

O’Reilly, Kim White

Dramaturgy by Robert Chafe

Audio Description by Kat Germain

ASL Interpretation by Heather Crane, Dana Rideout

NOTE: To maintain the integrity of the story, the role of TONY should be performed by an artist who self-identifies as living with a physical disability. Minor changes to text are permitted to reflect the specific physical disability of the artist portraying Tony.

St. John’s waterfront at night.

In the centre of the dock stands TONY, supported by crutches. He is fixated on the water—almost in a trance.

After a few moments, TONY brings his feet to the edge of the dock. It’s not quite clear if he is just looking or planning to jump. He moves closer to the edge.

EVAN enters.

EVAN: Hey! You okay?

TONY: (startled) What? Yeah…I’m fine.

EVAN: You gotta be